The first shoe has finally dropped, the first domino has finally tipped over … whatever cliche you want to use, at least it’s finally over.

As you’ve no doubt heard by now, Ilya Kovalchuk finally decided that he’d rather New Jersey make him filthy rich instead of Los Angeles.

Several reports have revealed that Kovalchuk’s deal with the Devils is for 17 years and $102 million total — a cap hit of $6 million per season with a ton of money up front. Meanwhile, Kings general manager Dean Lombardi has confirmed to several outlets that Los Angeles’ final offer was $80 million for 15 years. So if there was ever any doubt this was all about the money, Kovalchuk proved it.

It didn’t take long for other teams to get active again after Kovalchuk ended his stint of holding the hockey world hostage. Philadelphia, in desperate need of cap room, shipped its $5.25 million sniper Simon Gagne to Tampa Bay for veteran defenseman Matt Walker and a fourth-round pick. Obviously, this was a straight salary dump, with the Flyers going from over the maximum to a little more than $1 million below, according to CapGeek.com.

Finally, that leads back to where every story does: the Bruins. Without restricted free agent Blake Wheeler or No. 2 overall pick Tyler Seguin signed yet, Boston has just a little more than $500,000 in cap space left. General manager Peter Chiarelli can use the 10-percent offseason cushion in his favor this summer, even through the signing of Seguin and Wheeler’s new deal (either through arbitration or settlement). He can even use Marco Sturm’s LTIR to postpone a hard decision until mid-season. Then if his best option is still to move Marc Savard, in terms of financial reasons rather than hockey ones, and Savard is fully healthy and on his usual offensive pace, the Bruins might be able to get a better return in the winter.

Right now, the Gagne deal might give you an idea of what the Bruins can expect to get in return in an offseason deal.

The 30-year-old Gagne has a well-documented injury history, including a bout with a concussion. But like Savard, when he’s on the ice, Gagne produces like few players in the modern-day NHL. Gagne will be an unrestricted free agent after this season, which might’ve actually made him a more attractive salary-dump pick-up because if things don’t go well, the Lightning can let him walk and they really risked very little. The 33-year-old Savard, of course, is signed for eternity (or really just through 2016-17).

One would have to think that now that they’ve been spurned by seemingly every attractive free agent they’ve wooed this summer, the Kings might turn their attentions to Savard. Cap space is not an issue in LA. Other teams that we’ve all read about in connection to Savard — Atlanta, Buffalo, Long Island — could also make more serious inquiries now that they know exactly what the trade value is for a 30-plus-year-old star player that’s under contract to a team with a muddled cap situation. For Savard, it could be as simple as just a mid-level prospect (the Bruins really don’t need, or have room for, an NHL body right now) and a third- or fourth-round pick.

That’s why you’ve heard Chiarelli talk about “standing pat” lately. He’s probably not willing to do a straight salary dump involving the best offensive player on the league’s worst offensive team unless he has at least one more deal in place to keep the team on the upswing. And getting teams to make moves this summer has been like getting over the Sagamore Bridge on a Friday afternoon.

So standing pat might be Chiarelli’s best option right now, and not just because trading Savard is ludicrous decision in the first place. December might be a better time to take the knife to this team’s roster. Now that we know where Kovalchuk will be spending his holiday season, we can see clearer that that’s around the time the Bruins might be reshaping their club.

17 years. Unreal. This is precisely what’s wrong with the NHL. I’ll gladly take a lockout next season so the NHLPA and NHL etc. can put a new, legitimate CBA in place. The days of using loopholes to circumvent the current system — allowing such ludicrous contracts (also see, Marc Savard) — has to end this year.

At least Ovechkin’s 13-year deal has integrity: $9.538M throughout the life of the contract, as opposed to front loading garbage contracts.

I would think that interest in Savard will increase now that Kovalchuk has been sighned. It has been a wait & see approach for alot of teams but now that Kovy has been sighned I suspect trade activity in general will pick up again. i.e. – Gagne to Tampa. I hope the Bruins don’t just dump Savard for nothing like the Flyers did with Gagne. A multi-player cap friendly deal would make more sense with something significant coming back our way. package Savard with either Ryder, Hunwick,Thomas,Ference,Thornton or somewhat of a combination of these players. I know, it’s easier said than done though!

Yes, Wheeler will get around $2 million. But Seguin will only count for $900,000 this season. The bonuses go to next season. And yes, they have that space until Sturm comes back, at which point they have to clear the room — which could be tough depending on the time in the season

Matt,
I just want to make sure I understand the situation. So, the way I understand this, it seems as though during the off season, we get an extra $5million to sign players with. But when the season starts, we lose that but get to use the $3.5million in cap space that exists for Marco Sturm for our other players. This mean that Chiarelli has about $4million in cap space if he wanted to sign Seguin and Wheeler and make a trade before Sturm comes back. Also, will there be enough room given the precedent set by Hall ($3million cap hit) and the fact that Wheeler should be making at least $2 million next season? As always, thanks for your analysis.